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A teenage peasant girl who had reported to police that she was raped, gave birth to a baby girl to prove she was not lying, the Beijing Daily reported Monday.

In an unusual case, the 16-year-old from Anzhai township in central Henan province was told by police to prove her allegations by having the baby, the paper said.

The girl, like many women living in the mountainous villages in Anzhai, regards chastity as extremely important and did not want her reputation to be ruined by accusations she willingly had premarital sex.

She believed having the baby was the only way to prove her innocence, the report said.

The baby, who is now a year old, has been left in the care of relatives as the girl does not want to keep her.

The case has caught the attention of the media and legal experts who accused the police of incompetence and dereliction of duty.

However, the deputy director of the police department in Wugang city, where the township lies, told the newspaper that police had no way of investigating the girl's allegations at the time because she did not have any witnesses or evidence.

Experts have criticized the police for lack of knowledge about taking semen samples, blood tests or DNA evidence to assist in their investigation.

A court official in Wugang city told AFP a fellow villager in his 50s has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for raping the girl.

He said the girl was raped five to six times by the man.

However, he denied police pressured her into having the baby, saying it was her decision -- BEIJING (AFP)